doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Much ado about one squirrel

Always use enough gun.

Don't want to be forced into the bush tracking a vicious wounded beast.
Dastardly business before tea time while on Safari.

My son shot a tree rat with a single barrel full choke .410 and knocked it clean off the branch it was perched on. It hit the ground, climbed right back up the same tree and we never saw it again.
Squirrels can be tough to kill. I knew a guy who had to take off his coat and beat it against a tree to subdue one that wasn't dead enough when he put it in his game bag.
CHAZ

On one very cold and windy Saturday afternoon while visiting my in-laws waaaay back in the days of my misspent youth, my B-I-L and I decided we'd take my father in law's lemon pointers out for a bird hunt. It was not a fit day to chase quail at all, as the wind was blowing so hard it'd blow the shot pattern back in your fact if you shot straight into a gust; but we were young and we were bored, so off we went. Several hours later, after finding not a single covey and being numbed with cold to the point we took shelter from the wind in a deep hardwood hollow; me on one side of the little creek, and he on the other. As we eased up the hollow, I just happened to notice something odd in a dead hollow tree by the creek; and looking harder, determined I was seeing a squirrel tail thru one of holes in the tree trunk. So I sez "Hey Dewey, I believe there's a squirrel in that hollow tree there; you're on that side of the creek, check it out". So Brother Dewey walks over to the dead tree (it was kinda spindly), and gives it a good kick with his No. 13 boot. Instantly a big old boar squirrel jumps out of the top of that hollow tree and hits the ground in high gear. My B-I-L, having been gifted with cat-like reflexes, is on him in a split second and connects with a load of No. 8's from his 16-bore A5 Browning; but unfortunately he'd hit the squirrel mostly in the rear end, so that about all he'd done was slow the squirrel down just a bit and piss it off big time! Well it seems one of those big lemon pointers just had to join in the fun and was on that squirrel in a flash; grabbing it by the hind quarters and shaking the little beast. From my side of the creek it looked like a tremendous miss-match, that big ole pointer against a two pound squirrel; but that squirrel somehow twisted around and grabbed the big black nose on that ole pointer and went postal, you'd have thought he was working on a big hickory nut! This action seemed to paralyze the dog, as it sat down on its haunches and whined and howled in excruciating pain (I suppose trying to shake that squirrel off its snout with those incisors teeth buried in nose meat hurt to much?). We literally had to beat that squirrel off the dog's nose; but this proved to be an invaluable learning experience, as from that day onward that ole pointer never messed with another squirrel.

A couple of years ago, all the red squirrels with in a mile of my house acquired a zombie like obsession with getting into my house. After 6 porch screens being cut up by them and replaced by me, I declared jihad on all red squirrels. The weapon of choice? My old Daisy 880 pump rifle up and .177 cal pellets. My best day I got 5, one right after another. I would pitch their bodies over the bank behind the house. One day my wife came into the house and asked me with an accusatory tone if I knew anything about "all those dead squirrels over the bank?" Up until that point I had not burdened her with knowledge of the jihad.

I bet I killed 50 red squirrels that year...

Mergus

This is, without a doubt, the most entertaining thread I have ever read on any website anywhere. Makes me want to break out my 10 gauge, throw caution to the wind, and start whacking the little brutes.

Don't need no "stink'n gun" because I have Annie.
On two occasions my dog has killed two squirrels. Both squirrels had the option of fleeing to nearby trees, but to their demise chose to fight. This is a first for moi.

That's one badass dog, taking on a squirrel. Those incisors are something dangerous. And smart, too: taking one of the 3 best spots in the house: (1) the warm spot on the rug in front of the fire, (2) alongside your chair or (3) on the couch. Went to a hunting camp a few years back and my dog managed 2/3: she lay on the couch next to the Franklin stove.

#4?

1. I've hunting squirrels for 50+ years; usually with a 12 gauge SxS loaded with 1-1/8th ounce # 5's or # 6's. Tree shots are normally 15 to 40 yards - and not much meat is damaged. They go into a tasty stew, so its easy to remove the shot or damaged meat.

2. When I was younger, I used a Mossberg bolt action 16 gauge with a poly-choke. I still take it hunting once in a while.

3. Shotguns are safer on "tree shots", as an errant .22 could hit a nearby farmhouse.

4. I prefer to eat reds, but these days I mostly see grays.

5. Don't think many people bother to hunt squirrels any more.

6. My kids, all now college graduate professionals, love to amuse their associates telling them they grew up eating squirrel stew and venison burgers.

gold40

Years ago I had a big black and white tom cat that was a born hunter, even more so than most cats. One day I heard a commotion and saw Domino chasing a squirrel across the roof of our two story house. The squirrel leaped across a wide gap into a tree and then made the fatal mistake of turning around thinking he was safe. The last thing he saw in life was Domino flying through the air towards him mouth wide open and claws outstretched!

We moved a year later and Domino ran off. However, the story has a happy ending. We found Domino two years later at nursery about 10 miles away. He had a acquired the job of nursery rodent control expert. I was very happy for him.

Steve